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GP-Wiz 49 with modular panels
KenToad:
I'm using a pair of swappable panels on my cab with parallel port interfaces. One of my panels has the 49-way Midway/Happ joysticks and the other one has super joysticks. I have two GP-Wiz 49's.
The odd thing is that when I unplug the 49-way joystick panel from the parallel port interfaces, the joysticks default over to the up-right diagonal. I've checked this out in the control panel. So far, I can't figure out a way to get the default to be centered. If you try to play a game with that mapping, it's like you're holding up/right all the time :P.
What this means is that I can't share joystick controls between games. Like, for example, I would love to have it set up in my emulator that either the 49-way joys or the supers could control the games. Instead, I either have to switch back and forth between panels or remap the joystick controls manually every time. This sucks because I'd like to have all the eight-way games shared between the two different types of joys.
I'm thinking of emailing RandyT if he has any ideas, but I thought I'd go ahead and pitch the annoyance out here first. Any ideas why this might be happening or how to fix it?
Cheers,
KenToad
Kremmit:
I don't have one where I can lay my hands on it right now, but I'm betting that when a Happ 49-way is in the furthest up/right position, all of the optical sensors on the joystick are unblocked, or maybe all blocked- either way, I'll also bet that when that happens, the joystiick is sending no data to the GP49. So when you unplug your parallel cable, the GP49 suddenly gets no data, and thinks your stick is in the up/right position.
As for a fix, try unplugging and then re-plugging the GP49s after you disconnect the parallel cable for the 49-way panel. That should re-boot the GP49s with no stick attached. I don't know if they will reboot in the centered position or not, but if it works, then you could rig a "reset button" inside the cp for the GP49s, just a button that would cut the power on the USB lines. Whenever you switch panels, press the button for a second, and when you let it up, power would be restored, and the GP49s would reboot.
Alternately, you could disable analog controls in MAME whenever you pull the 49-way panel.
Or ??
KenToad:
Thanks for the info and the tips, Kremmit. I'll give your reset idea a test this afternoon and let you know what happened.
Cheers,
KenToad
Lilwolf:
The other item you might want to try is to setup two mame configurations (with two mame.ini's or with two directories). One setup with joystick support and the other without.
I do this because I have hotswap on my AKI board... and you don't get just motion to the upper left, but just the analog joystick moving all over when not connected correctly. The biggest problem with this is you can't set any inputs in mame (you select update button 1 and it instantly takes a random analog joystick direction :(
2600:
1. You could put the gpwiz in the Cp and just disconnect the USB connection instead of the Parallel Port interface.
Or
2. Make an adapter for the Gpwiz parallel interface that sets the appropiate bits high or low so that it is centered. Probably cost you $1.
Could do what Lilwolf said, but it sounds like you don't want to do that.